VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[whalewtchr]

Happy to announce that I have completed my first audiobook for RFB&D. Heart of A Patriot by Max Cleland. Both Pat Fraley and Hillary Huber said it...until this happens you really don't know what you're in for. So True.

The research and prep. The day to day narration. The need for consistency. The list is long. My admiration for anyone who makes a living with audiobooks has gone up ten fold. It's difficult, takes a ton of patience and can be time consuming, especially for a novice.

For me the first audiobook has been a wonderful learning experience and continues to be as I tackle a second audiobook. The reality is that my day job sucks the energy right out of me and at times it is impossible to put forth the same energy for another two to four hours following a ten hour day.

Recently, I saw a post by Grover Gardner from Blackstone where the expectation is to get a book back from a narrator in two weeks. Impossible unless you are a full-time narrator...and even then you better be very good at story telling with few mistakes. Time is money.

My point? Audiobook narrators are woefully underpaid, especially if you are also doing the editing.

If you go down the audiobook path, you better love what you do! I still love telling a good story.
_________________
jonahcummings

[Lizden]

Congratulations Jonah!
Keep on keepin' on!
_________________
Liz de Nesnera O.A.V. ~ Livin' The VO Dream!
English/French Bilingual VO w/ ISDN
HireLiz.com / liz@hireliz.com

[Jeffrey Kafer]

thanks for posting this, Jonah, and congrats on getting er done. We're definitely the marathon runners. And we're glad as hell when one is over so we can move on to the next one.
_________________
Jeff
http://JeffreyKafer.com
Voice-overload Web comic: http://voice-overload.com

[JBarrett]

Congratulations, Jonah, and thanks for sharing these thoughts! I've been contemplating a toe-dip in the audiobook waters. Still need more practice, though cold-reading books to my wife first thing in the morning has been a great help.
_________________
Justin S. Barrett
http://www.justinsbarrett.com/

[Diane Havens]

I did my first audiobook 4 years ago with RFB&D recording college textbooks, and it's the toughest work I've ever done in VO. Textbooks are truly difficult to read, especially at the college level. (The hardest part was when we had to improvise the descriptions of the charts, maps and illustrations on the fly.) But it was terrific experience -- and now I feel I can record pretty much anything.
Congrats and thanks for sharing your experience.
_________________
Diane


Veni, Vidi, Voci
http://www.dianehavens.com